Synthesis of Novel Y-type Nonlinear Optical Polyester with Enhanced Thermal Stability of Second Harmonic Generation for Electro-Optic Applications

Synthesis of Novel Y-type Nonlinear Optical Polyester with Enhanced Thermal Stability of Second Harmonic Generation for Electro-Optic Applications

Methyl 3,4-di-(2'-hydroxyethoxy)benzylidenecyanoacetate (3) was prepared and condensed with terephthaloyl chloride to yield novel Y-type polyester (4) containing 3,4-dioxybenzylidenecyanoacetate groups as NLO-chromophores, which constituted parts of the polymer main chains. The resulting polymer 4 is soluble in common organic solvents such as acetone and N,N-dimethylformamide. Polymer 4 shows thermal stability up to $280^{\circ}C$ in thermogravimetric analysis with glass-transition temperature obtained from differential scanning calorimetry near $105^{\circ}C$. The second harmonic generation (SHG) coefficient ($d_{33}$) of poled polymer films at the 1064 nm fundamental wavelength is around 2.42 pm/V. The dipole alignment exhibits high thermal stability up to near $T_g$, and there is no SHG decay below $100^{\circ}C$ due to the partial main-chain character of polymer structure, which is acceptable for NLO device applications.